Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

Did black voters outlaw gay marriage in California?

A curious postscript to the American election. In California, Proposition 8 outlawed gay marriage. Why? Well, one reason was because black voters turned out in large numbers to vote for Obama and expressed their views about a minority they're not crazy about.

Andrew Sullivan has this to say: "The black church is one of the most powerful forces fomenting homophobia in America, and has fostered attitudes that have literally killed countless gay black men. It's time to Act Up against those elements that p.c. liberals have been too timid to confront. For the sake of African American gay and lesbian people as much as anyone else."

In my experience, the phrase "black homophobia" is a quick way of killing conversation at an Islington dinner party. Liberals can't get their heads round the concept. As for anti-gay bigots, they're uncomfortable at finding themselves on the same side of an issue as blacks. I can think of one member of a Right-wing think tank – who has since had the nerve to condemn Islamic homophobia – who used to say the best thing about the black community was its firm stance on queers. What a funny old world we live in.